Shred Day 3: Leg Workout, Probiotics + Fitspo from Female Olympic Athletes

Workout Wednesday was all about the lower body and leg machines.

After a quick 10 minute warm up on the treadmill, I was working on my quads, hamstrings, and glutes. I hardly ever use the leg machines at the fitness center (mostly because I don't really know how), but I was excited to try something new today.

I was a little worried about how my knee would feel doing all the leg exercises, but so far so good. No problems during the 10 minute cool down on the elliptical either.

This afternoon I joined a Just Thrive Probiotics webinar to learn more about how probiotics help with weight maintenance and a having a happy gut. mrC and I are going to order a one month supply to try and I will let you know what we think. Here's a two minute video from the Just Thrive website.

My feast day meals (it's not easy to hit my goals!):

Breakfast: scrambled eggs, hash browns, veggie crumble (which I think was just a cut up veggie burger), coffee and two pieces of pb&j toast in the room.
The entire hotel world came to breakfast today. Not fun, but the veggie crumble was really good.

Lunch: cheeseburger, salad, diet dew (forgot to take photo!)

Snack: pb&j apple cinnamon rice cakes

Dinner: spaghetti bolognaise, water 

Another photo fail, but on a side note, mrC and I enjoyed the walk to the restaurant and dining outside.

Dessert: ice cream sandwich

I saw these in the hotel market and have been waiting for feast day to have one.

Macros: Under, under, under, over. Yikes! I might have to give up peanut butter to get control of my fats :( I was hoping to consume some serious fruit at breakfast but the buffet was lacking. At lest I feel like I ate a lot heading into my first fast.

How about some FITSPO (fitness inspiration) before I sign off?

NEVER GIVE UP! There are so many amazing examples of this in the Summer Olympics. Have you been watching?

She competed without a shoe!

She dove across the finish line! 

True Sportsmanship! 

She outsmarted the Rule 40 Blackout

Five stories of courage.

Calling out sexism point of view of female athletes

First 1500m medal for USA


Do you use machines for strength workouts? Have a favorite?
Have you ever taken probiotics? What do you think?
Favorite Olympics moment?

Shred Day 2: Sprints, a Nail Salon Adventure and Free Food

Low carb days always make me feel really good.

But today I'm feeling amazing! Not because of low carbing, but because I ran my sprints outside. It was the same workout as yesterday: 20 sprints at 20 seconds on and 20 seconds off. I used a run/walk combination.

Our hotel is located in the Saint-Laurent neighborhood of Montreal, very near the airport and about 15 minutes from downtown. It is a thriving little area with shopping, restaurants, and entertainment just a block away. This morning it was a perfect place for me to run.

After showering and some breakfast, I went on a nail salon adventure. I walked back to the shopping area where I ran my sprints to get my nails done. That salon was closed, so I returned to the hotel to grab the car keys and drove to another location about a mile away. The street was lined with shops and the parking signage was in French, so I continued back to the hotel. I finally found a salon in a shopping mall on another block near where we are staying. At the end of the adventure, I'm loving my new nail colors. 

What I ate on low carb day 2:

Breakfast: scrambled eggs and ham, pb&j plain rice cake, coffee

Lunch: veggie burger, salad, diet dew

Snack: celery, hummus, diet dew

Dinner: salmon, salad, diet dew

Before dinner mrC and I walked to the attached hotel to check out the restaurant. On the way we found some FREE FOOD! The hotel set out fresh cookies for the guests, so we grabbed some for dessert!

Macros: I did really well on my carbs again today: 34 net, but I was under in calories again. I really don't know how to hit them on low carb days. 

Tomorrow is feast day and I've already decided that I will be going to the hotel buffet for breakfast. I saw some waffles there the other day and they just sound really good!

What is your favorite breakfast item?

30 Day Shred Begins

We're going to be hanging out in Montreal for a few weeks for mrC's work, but we have some pretty nice digs at the hotel. Since I'm starting 30 Day Shred, another carb cycling and intermittent fasting program, I was excited to see that the room had a little kitchen area.

What is 30 Day Shred?

After watching the introduction video from Amanda, here is what I learned:

• Takes the best parts of Carb Cycling Level 1 & 2 
• Uses a CUSTOMIZED IIFYM (if it fits your macros) plan
• Puts less emphasis on being GF and DF (no more guilt over cheese and yogurt!)
• Uses an optional shortened feeding window to get in your daily calories
• The workouts: speed, strength training with focus on lower body, and running (this should be interesting for me and my knee) 

During the program we will be using two APPS:
OTR (On The Regimen) - to set custom macros and use with MFP
MFP (My Fitness Pal) - to log food/workouts and track macros

My OTR custom macros look like this (training = regular calorie day and rest day = low cal day):

Then using the customized macros, I input into MFP. I also upgraded to Pro and created goals for each carb cycling day, although I think my low carb day needs tweaking.

I started day 1 bright and early in the fitness center doing an elliptical sprint workout. We jumped right into intense with 20 intervals of 20 seconds on and 20 seconds off. I was secretly hoping my knee would give me another sign that it was up for an outdoor run. Maybe tomorrow.

We missed the shopping window when we arrived yesterday (stores close early here on Sunday), so after mrC went to work I found my way to both Walmart and a local grocery to stock up on some breakfast and lunch items.

Best find of the shopping trip was sweetener for my coffee and tea. Liquid stevia is the best!

I saw this postal box on our after dinner walk and think Canada has way better taste in mail than the USA. What do you think?

I want to stay on track during the 30 Day Shred, so I'm back to blogging every day. My first round of carb cycling was a huge success and I attribute a lot of it to the fact that I blogged EVERY day about my workouts and what I ate.

What I ate on low carb day:

Breakfast: scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon (what else, right?), coffee
I'm out of practice and almost forgot the plate photo ;)

Lunch: veggie burger, salad with parmesan cheese, ranch dressing, celery and hummus, diet dew
Can you believe all that food is only 370 calories? It's crazy how full I feel when I eat well.

Dinner: another salad, tuna, some green beans, and diet dew
I completely forgot the meal pic, so I compensated with a shot of the unprepared items ;)

Snack: Around 3:00 I satisfied a little sweet tooth and hunger with an low carb bar. These things are seriously sooooo good!

MACROS: Low carb days on MFP always confuse me because the app doesn't calculate net carbs (carbs minus fiber). My net carbs were 34 (yay), but my calories were 523 short (not good). The crazy part is that I feel satisfied and had plenty to eat.

Ever been to Montreal?
What tricks do you use to stay on track with your nutrition?
What Apps do you use to track your fitness/nutrition?

Last Day at the Cape & Boardwalk Beach

Yesterday we enjoyed our final full day on the Cape.

After a morning workout that involved a RUN, we had some breakfast and then headed to Old Silver  Beach.

Another test run success. One step at a time. #capecod #falmouth #easyrun #running #athletacontest #mymizuno #sweatybands #flystyle #sweatpink #fitfluential

A photo posted by AmyC (@runningescapade) on Aug 12, 2016 at 7:03am PDT

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We headed back to the house for lunch and to cheer on the US women's soccer team. We were so sad that they lost, so to distract ourselves we decided to explore a little more of the Cape and headed to Sandwich to check out Sandwich Boardwalk and Town Beach.

I read about the marsh lands, lazy river, and most importantly, the popular plank boardwalk, but nothing compares to seeing such unique scenery in person.

We loved walking the boardwalk and reading the messages on the planks. This was my favorite.

It was later in the afternoon when we arrived (low tide meant no one was jumping off the boardwalk) and the beach looked a bit deserted, but it seemed to go on and on. Plenty of room for everyone.

We loved the rocks. Rocks add character to a beach and make taking walks more fun.

mrC dipped his toes in the water and thought it was colder than Old Silver Beach even though it is on the bayside of the Cape.

Like my look? Shop here! 

Oh, and we received our family photo session album and we are thrilled with how they turned out. Here are some of my favorites. I highly recommend Stacey Hedman | Photography.

Today we are returning to mrC's hometown for a brief visit before we drive to Montreal tomorrow for his work. I will be looking for adventures while I'm in Canada with him. Send me your suggestions!

5 Workout Scenes from the Cape

My off-Cape family and friends have been melting in the heat and humidity, but we've been spoiled here on the Cape. The weather has been pretty much perfect for outdoor workouts during our two week stay.

In addition to some group activities, we kept up with our regular daily workouts making use of what was around us.

There was lots of morning yoga in the side yard.

Biking on the bike trail.

Slow sprints in the 'hood.

Weight training in the backyard.

Slow running in the 'hood.

It's going to be hard to leave in the morning, but we have more adventures coming our way!